Introducing Newnham College this International Women’s Day

March 6, 2018

For International Women’s Day I wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate the wonderful females that eco cuisine does business with. There are so many, from suppliers to clients and they are all fantastic.

In this blog post, I thought what better time would there be to highlight a fantastic female-only organisation I cater for…. Newnham College. It is a female only constituent college of the Uni of Cambridge and was the second Cambridge College ever to admit women.

The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick as a response to a need for female student’s lodgings. It began as a house in which young women could reside while attending lectures in Cambridge, long before they were allowed to become full members of the university, with the granting of degrees to women in 1948. The college was actively encouraged and helped to grow by the famous women’s suffrage campaigner Millicent Garrett Fawcett.

It is quite amazing to read how it all started – if you’re interested you can read it here and it is so encouraging to learn about how it all started at a time when women were not encouraged in education and were not granted degrees and where we are now……..there’s still plenty to improve on in terms of equality of course, but it is progress……….

Alumnae of the college include people like Emma Thompson, Clare Balding and Dianne Abbot! As I understand it the more senior women in age basically meet the younger graduates at events and can mentor and advise them with their career choices / progression. Recently they were speaking about life after work and how it might affect you when you’ve had a busy career – shows how old the senior alumnae are these days.

So, you may be wondering how eco cuisine fit into this? The person who found eco cuisine was a Newnham alumna the Chief Exec of Brightside Uniaid, a charity based at the old CAN Mezzanine, 1 London Bridge. Our first event for Newnham alunae was September 2010 at One London Bridge.

They always have canapés and drinks service – venues have included a private house on Highgate Hill, another private house in Canonbury, the Freud Museum Hampstead, Allies and Morrison Architects, Southwark, and most recently the new London school of Arts building in Kings Cross. ………..and they do like a glass of prosecco and enjoy my organic wines…..

Not only do we thoroughly enjoy catering for alumnae of Newnham College, we are so proud to be able to call them a client. Everything they have done to pioneer women’s educational rights in Cambridge and to set an example for equality to others is really inspiring.

Thank-you to Newnham College Alumnae for using our services and thank you to all the women and men we work with that are in alignment with our values of sustainability and also equality for all!